--- by Matt M6CEB

This year is set to be the high point in the sunspot cycle and there has never been a better time to get into the 12, 11 and the 10m band! These bands are open every single day at the moment and this is the perfect time to look at today's review.

The Radioddity QT-60 is a fantastic radio for a great price, so I reached out to Radioddity to review their QT 60 radio as I have used and reviewed their products in the past and been extremely happy with them, they agreed to send me a radio for review on my youtube channel and I also agreed to write a review on my website, all views are my own and Radioddity has not had any input into anything I say or what I can cover. They have been very pleasant to work with and have a great support and sales team.

The radio arrived in a few days from China via DHL and was received in perfect condition. I was really impressed with the speed and quality of the delivery and of the packaging. I then eagerly opened the packaging as I was super excited to see what the radio was like, the first impressions were absolutely amazing! The first thing that struck me was size! It’s a really big radio and has a nice weight to it, I also noticed the build quality, this is a huge plus, very nicely put together and the fit and finish was up there with some of the best i’ve seen! I especially noticed the main VFO knob felt really nice and would take a lot of use and abuse. as I have had other radios in the past where the build quality wasn’t the best but I can say with a high degree of confidence that this radio will hold up to intense use for several years!

Another thing I noticed was the screen size! This is nice and big and would work well mobile too. There is quite a large heatsink on the rear of the radio but no cooling fan. I have used the radio extensively over the last few days and the radio does not get hot so the cooling works really well! On the rear we have a standard 3 pin power cable, we also have an antenna port (So239), Speaker jack (3.5mm) and PA socket (3.5mm) also the programming data socket, as far as I know this is only for programming so data modes will not work but I found a wiring diagram showing how to wire up your own microphones and this could also be used with things like Digirig and Signalink for FT8 etc….

Now was the exciting part! Turning the radio on for the first time! Wow! This is a really beautiful radio! The display is nice and large and very easy to read. I love the Signal, SWR and Power meter, it looks stunning! One thing I could not find was how to change the colour of the display, It looks nice either way and I quite like the orange display. It works really well on this radio.

The microphone on this radio is really nice in the hand too! Very ergonomic and functions well, we have an up and down button on the top of the microphone and they have a nice tactile feel also.

Looking at the front of the radio we have a frequency/display button, this is used so you can show either the channel number or frequency. We have a band button next to this where you have bands A to L so 12 bands in total! Each of these bands has 40 channels that can be programmed using the free software direct from the Radioddity website, so you have a lot of options for programming.

On the left of the radio we have an RF power rotatable dial and the RF gain dial in front, so its a dual purpose knob in effect, the radio will go as low as 1w and maximum of 60w on all modes! Having the RF gain is also useful for attenuating strong signals and reducing some background noise. On the bottom left we have the power on/off and volume knob, I also like the fact you can see a visual representation on the screen showing you the volume level, this works for a lot of the settings on this radio, nice touch!

Along the bottom of the screen we have 8 buttons, 7 of which are white and the far left menu button is orange. The white buttons have a dual purpose so you short press to activate one function and long press to activate the other. The buttons are marked as follows..

- Mode/TSQ This switches the mode from FM, AM, USB, LSB, PA and TSQ Setup.
- DW/+10k Dual Watch scan and Frequency +10k function.
- RB/Beep This sets the Roger Beep We have 6 to choose from and can even make your own in the programming software! The beep turns on/off the radio beeps (changing channel etc..)
- NB/HCUT Noise Blanker function and Hi-Cut function.
- Scan/Skip Scan, Scan add, Scan delete.
- Mem/Store Use store or delete a memory channel.
- EMG/Lock Emergency Channel and Lock function.

On the right side of the radio we have (top right) the Squelch and clarifier knob same as before we have the outer knob as the squelch and the inner knob as clarifier, we also have the visual representation on the display, again, nice touch.

Bottom right we have the channel selector knob, this is used to change channel or frequency and also used within the menu system to change settings. This is a push button also, you can easily change frequency for example by pushing the knob and selecting 100hz, 1000hz etc… so you can easily get around quickly to where you want to be.

Here are the specifications of the QT-60
SPECIFICATIONS
GENERAL
Frequency Range: 28.000-29.700MHz(Programmable)
Frequency Band: A/B/C/D/E/F/G/H/I
WX channels: 162.400MHz, 162.475MHz, 162.425MHz, 162.450MHz, 162.500MHz, 162.525MHz, 162.550MHz
Channel: 40 channels(programmable)in each band
Frequency Control: Phase-Locked-Loop Synthesizer
Frequency Step: 100Hz, 1KHz, 5KHz, 10KHz, 100KHz, 1MHz
Frequency Tolerance: ±5.00ppm
Temperature Range: -20℃ to +50℃
Microphone: with push-to-talk/UP/DN and coiled cord
Input Voltage: 13.8V
Dimensions(in mm): 305(L)x200(W)x60(H)
Weight: 1.73kg
Antenna Connector: UHF, SO239
TRANSMITTER
Power Output AM PEP: 60W / FM: 50W / SSB: 60W(PEP)
Drain: 10A(with modulation)
Modulation: AM/FM/USB/LSB
Intermodulation Distortion: SSB: 3rd order, more than -25dB | 5th order, more than -35dB
SSB Carrier Suppression: 55dB
Unwanted Sideband: 50dB
Frequency Response: AM/FM: 300 to 3000 Hz | SSB: 450 to 2500Hz
Output Impedance: 50ohms, unbalanced
RECEIVER
Sensitivity
SSB: 0.25μV for 10dB(S+N)/N at greater than 1/2 watt of audio output
AM: 1.0μV for 10dB(S+N)/N at greater than 1/2 watt of audio output
FM: 1.0μV for 20 dB (S+N)/N at greater than 1/2 watt of audio output
Adjacent-Channel Selectivity: AM/FM: 60dB; SSB: 70dB
Image Rejection: More than 65dB
IF Frequency: AM/FM: 10.695MHz 1st IF, 455KHz 2nd IF | SSB: 10.695MHz
RF Gain Control: 45dB adjustable for optimum signal reception
Automatic Gain Control(AGC): Less than 10dB change in audio output for inputs from 10 to 100,000 microvolt
Squelch: Adjustable; threshold less than 1.0μV. | Automatic Squelch Control(only AM/FM)1.0μV
Audio Output Power: 3 watts into 8 ohms
Frequency Response: AM/FM: 300 to 3000Hz; SSB: 450 to 2500Hz
Built-in Speaker: 8 ohms, round.
External Speaker(Not Supplied): 8 ohms; disables internal speaker when connected

Here is what you get in the box.

1 x QT60 Radio
1 x Detachable Microphone
1 x Mounting Bracket
1 x Microphone Hanger
1 x Power Cable
1 x Spare Fuse(10A, 125V)
2 x Non-slip Mat
2 x Screw for Bracket
2 x Pad for Bracket
4 x Adjusting Screw
2 x Self-tapping Screw
2 x Pad
　

I had a good look at the programming software and it’s really easy to use (check out my youtube video). Has a lot of customization options, you can even have your callsign displayed under the signal,SWR and power meter. It looks really nice and I like that you can customize your radio this way. You can also make your own custom Roger Beeps too! I have never seen this on a radio before and was really quite impressed.

My conclusion on the Radioddity QT-60.
This is a fantastic radio! I cannot rate it highly enough, I found the build quality to be exceptional and really easy to use. I have had no issues in doing the wideband mod and it was definitely worth doing! This has not only given me access to the 12m ham band but also 11m too! This radio is a keeper for me and I have found its forever home right here in the shack. If you’re reading this and thinking of purchasing the radio then I highly recommend it.